Unending plots against Al-Makura

Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Al-Makura, is currently walking through political land mines set up by the opposition ahead 2015, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

Ever since his erstwhile party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) joined some other political parties to form the All Progressive Congress (APC) last year, the Nassarawa State Governor, Umaru Al-Makura, may have become a marked man. This is because of the unending plots to stop his re-election bid by opposition forces within and outside the state.

In fact, observers of the politics of the North-Central state are quick to assert that things have not been the same for Al-Makura and the state following the emergence of an APC government in the Government House in Lafia, the state capital. Sources say the governor’s many troubles stem from the determination of the Peoples Democratic Party to ensure that he does not remain in office beyond 2015.

But in spite of the many political forces arraigned against him from within and outside the state, sources say it appears Al-Makura is not relenting in his determination to win the 2015 governorship election and rule the state for another term of four years. Following the realisation that it may not be easy to dislodge Al-Makura and the APC from the Government House come 2015, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has allegedly been plotting ways of checkmating the governor’s second term ambition.

For instance, at the turn of the new year, there were strong indications Governor Umaru Al-Makura, may be impeached. It was then alleged that the PDP, suspected to be behind the impeachment plot, was wooing the deputy governor, Dameshi Barau Luka, to take over as a PDP governor after he must have defected from the APC.

Days after the rumour hit town, Al-Makura and Dameshi Barau Luka, publicly disagreed over what the state chapter of the APC described as the latter’s anti-party activities. The relationship between the duo has remained frosty since then.

Determined to defy the governor, Luka has been seen hobnobbeing openly with PDP chiefs, including President Goodluck Jonathan, former national chairman, Bamanga Tukur and Information Minister, Labaran Maku, in spite of several warnings and condemnations from his then party, the APC and the governor’s camp.

In January, the deputy governor worshipped at a church near Keffi with President Jonathan. After the church service, Luka criticised the APC for asking its federal lawmakers to block executive bills over “impunity” in Rivers State.

Following what it described as a flagrant anti-party act, the state chapter of the APC suspended the deputy governor from the party, citing the statements he made on the APC directive. The party also said the deputy governor’s actions are pre-meditated and aimed at provoking the leadership of the ruling party.

The stand-off continued until March 3, 2014, when Luka finally renounced his membership of the APC. His defection notice came in form of a statement signed by his Director of Press, Danjuma Joseph, and made available to newsmen in Lafia.

“The deputy governor has submitted his letter of withdrawal from APC and will brief the press on Tuesday on his next line of action,” the release said. It also said that he would brief the press later to give more explanation on why he decided to leave. He therefore urged his supporters to remain calm and be law abiding as their destinies were in the hands of God.

The people didn’t have to wait long to know where Luka was headed politically as the PDP, through its chairman in the state, Yunana Iliya, last Wednesday, announced that President Goodluck Jonathan will formally receive him into the PDP at a reception to be held on May 10, in Lafia.

Also, the defection of Senator Ewuga, who was an ally of the Nasarawa governor before the Ombatse uprising in May last year, according to sources, is part of a grand plan to pitch people of the northern senatorial zone of the state against the ruling party.

“What you are witnessing today in Nassarawa is a grand plot by the PDP and the presidency to stop Al-Makura at all cost. They will stop at nothing to achieve this.

Their idea of political rivalry is to make the state ungovernable ahead of the 2015 election. They know how popular the governor and our party is around here. They know we will win in any free and fair election in Nassarawa State. That explains why they are going about creating confusion amongst our people. Now they are talking about a zoning agreement purportedly signed by the governor in 2011. And we say bring out the agreement, they couldn’t find it,” an ally of the governor told The Nation.

Another plot the PDP is allegedly putting together against the governor involve members of the state House of Assembly. Aside from being cajoled to see through the planned impeachment of the governor once the deputy governor finally moves into the opposition party, the legislature is also being lured into plans that will see the House moving against every move of the governor until his planned removal is effected.

The governor had been finding it difficult to work with the assembly since his assumption of office in May 2011. The PDP has 19 members in the assembly, while Al-Makura’s APC has five lawmakers. Also, sources said all the principal officers of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly are involved with the impeachment plot, and already impeachable offences are being compiled against the governor.

The governor and the State Assembly are currently in a face-off, occasioned by the inability of the duo to agree on the number of years elected local government officials in the state will spend in office.

While the government, through the Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) has said those elected in the forthcoming council polls would spend two years in office, the House recently passed a bill to allow elected local government council officials spend one year in office.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting organised by the commission in Lafia recently,the chairman of the commission, Abdullahi Moddibo, said the electoral body would work with the existing law of two years, stressing that the bill passed by the State Assembly has not been accented to by Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura.

But the legislators said the NASIEC boss is chasing shadows as they will not succumb to what they described as a ploy by the state government to undermine the authority of the legislature in the running of the state.

Another challenge currently being faced by Al-Makura in his bid to rule the state for another term is the mounting agitation in some quarters within the northern senatorial district to have the next governor of the state emerge from the area. While promoters of the agitation say it is a demand by the people of the zone, the ruling APC and the governor’s political camp are of the opinion that it is nothing more than a part of the many plans to destabilise the state ahead of the 2015 general election.

Former House of Representatives member, Usman Isah Ambaka, went public with the agitation when he recently warned against alleged attempt to thwart the zoning principle in the state.

“I want to believe that the zoning arrangement is about to be thwarted or violated because of the quest of the incumbent governor to go for a second term. I believe the concept of zoning is what is sustaining the system nationally. So, in Nasarawa State, the Nasarawa South West Senatorial District produced the first democratically elected governor in the person of Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu now a sitting Senator. He served for two terms from 1999 to 2007 without any rancour and without any struggle.

It then shifted to Nasarawa South in 2007. Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma from Nasarawa South emerged as the governor without any struggle because we believe we ought to respect the zoning arrangement so that stability will be ensured and development can be guaranteed. He was supposed to have come back for a second term from 2011 to date but unfortunately something happened somewhere and he was edged out and we have the incumbent governor who is also from the same zone but from a different party, the CPC.

We are saying that we should allow Nasarawa North to produce the next governor of the state in the spirit of fairness and equity. Our argument is that Nasarawa South has finished their term, irrespective of the party, whether its PDP, APGA or whatever, they have done their two terms. If he wants to come back again it means Nasarawa South would rule the state for 12 years. That is total violation of the principle of zoning and the spirit of living together,” Ambaka said.

But the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Sani Musa Mairiga, said Al-Makura did not sign pact with anyone not to re-contest as governor in 2015. Mairiga, while speaking with journalists in Abuja recently, said it is only the people of Nasarawa that can decide whether the governor should contest or not.

“It is not true that the governor had any pact with anybody to serve only one term, he will contest if the people want him. The people of Nasarawa would have to be patient with the governor in order to deliver fully on his agenda. They should understand that things were shapeless and very bad at the time Al-Makura assumed office.

“Al-Makura is a man of his words, he has kept to his promises. It is a gradual process, within a very short time, every part of the state will feel the positive impact of the administration,” Mairiga said.

When contacted, the Presidency said it was not plotting to instigate Al-Makura’s impeachment but said Luka had decided on his own to defect to the PDP.

“The Presidency has never wooed or invited the deputy governor of Nasarawa State to join the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It is the deputy governor himself that has decided to defect to the PDP and Mr. President cannot say no to it,” President Jonathan’s Political Adviser, Ahmed Ali Gulak, said.